Today I've been thinking a lot again about gratitude, especially during the holiday times. So I chose to repost this little thing I wrote. It really is true what is said that the more things you are grateful for in life, the more good things in life just seem to come your way, more awesome things to be grateful for.
I think in our busy lives we forget this. We spend so much time worrying about what we don't have yet, asking God to bring us more, and more, and even more stuff.. but when was the last time we said, "thank you" for what we already have?
I don't care if you want to call it law of attraction or just plain luck or whatever, I do know that the things we think about, let our minds dwell on, what we give our energy too...is exactly what we get more of. It doesn't matter even if it's "stuff" we don't want. I think God and the universe are going like, " well, you sure put a lot of effort into this, you must really want it... so here you go, take it." :-) Yet, what so many think about and spend their energy on are the things they DON'T WANT! A lot of my friends I think found out the hard way and ended up with a President they did not want... mostly, I would say, because instead of focusing on the candidate they wanted, all they focused on was how much they hated the other one... well bingo, you get what you focus on!
The same goes for what we all fear. I wrote a piece about fear and how it's good to break out of that, go meet new people, because you could find some brand new, wonderful friends. I got an email not long ago about supporting our country in the fight against terror. Well, while I am not against trying to end violence in any form... I have to wonder at all the attention we give over to our fears of terrorists. Especially when that fear has led to us causing the deaths of a hell a lot of inocent people along the way. Never mind the fact that the idea of a war on terror is insane. I mean war is terror.. so doesn't that mean we are fighting a war on war? Wouldn't a better idea be to start trying to focus on what in the world will bring us peace and not more fighting? The more energy you give to fighting, even for a good cause, is only going cause you to have to fight even more. All these two wars have done is to create even more people to fear, more people who hate us for what we are doing. I say spend at least half that energy on finding people in these regions to care about, to love, to help, and to be grateful for. How many of you know anyone from these parts of the world? Would you go out of your way to learn anything about their culture or to find friends there? To find worthy people, who are mostly just like you wanting to live their lives well and care for their families? I've been reading lately about all sorts of people who have gone out of their way to find ways of helping others. I'm not talking about just free handouts, I'm talking about people who give things like education, who give others a helping hand so they are better able to help themselvs. I'm talking about people like my friends in Rotary who are helping build schools around the world. They are helping bring clean water to communities, and better health care and education to poor cominities. These are the people that I'm grateful for and the more "energy" I give to being grateful for these friends, the more friends like these I make... Life is wonderful! The more positivity that can be spread, the less fear can keep a hold... the less fear there is in the world, the less we have to be fearful off.
So again, I think if you could take half the energy it takes to hate the terrorists and invest it in learning what there is to love about our fellow human beings in the world... you would go a long way to creating even more people to love. I know for a fact, despite all the fear mongoring that goes on, that for every one person out there bent on hurting you, there are thousands, if not millions, who would like nothing better than to be your friend. There are far more loving, kind people in the world who just want to live their lives in peace and harmony.
I loved the quote from Mother Teresa about anti war rallies... she said something like, "I will never attend an anti war rally, but invite me to a peace rally and I'll be there." She knew the only true way to peace is to make your focus peace. The only way to change anyone's heart is not to curse them, but to pray for them... to pray that God will show them the way... She was pretty special. Too bad the world doesn't have more like her. She was awesome too in that even though she was a Catholic nun, she never insisted on only helping Christians. She cared for all alike. She said she only wanted a person to be the best they could be, even if that meant the best Hindu they could be or the best Muslim, or the best Budhist... to her all were children of God... it didn't matter what you wanted to call him. When I was in Jerusalem last year and I prayed at the Western Wall, that was the answer I got. We are all really the same, God does not love anyone more or less, he only wants us to be good to one another. There was a sadness though at that wall, mostly because there wasnt that love for each other. I felt that the message I was getting was, "I don't love you who pray down here at the wall (mostly Jews and Cristians) any more or less then those who pray above at the Mosque, or the Dome of the Rock (mostly Muslims)... I love you all, why can't you see that? Why can't you stop fighting and learn to love each other, because I do". Yes, you may think I'm crazy for getting messsages, but that's ok. :-) The point is, the more effort we put into learning what there is to love about other people, the less we really find in them not to. I know I certainly found people there to love... I didn't expect to, but I did.
So, it is my goal to try and remember more things to be grateful for every day. To pray for those who would want to hurt me and to only wish good for anyone. For the more I have te be grateful for, the more in life I will get to be grateful for... the best of these are friends. I find the best thing in life is to get out there in the world and make friends... the more friends you have, the fewer enemies anyone can have. And that is not just a good thing... it's a great thing! :-)
So thank you to all of my friends, even to those of you who live on the other side of the planet and who I'm not sure when I will see again... you are all a blessing and make me smile.
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